TB CARE II

Overview

TB CARE II complements existing and planned projects in the Bureau for Global Health to provide global leadership and support to national TB programs (NTPs) and other in-country partners. The project assists these stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of TB DOTS, TB/HIV, and programs for the programmatic management of drug resistant TB. TB CARE II can help countries scale up evidence-based interventions and improve outcomes in TB prevention and control in USAID TB Priority countries. The partnership brings extensive expertise in strengthening TB services, including establishing community-based multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB prevention and treatment strategies. USAID Missions can procure TA and support services from the URC-led TB CARE II partnership through field support mechanisms. At the global level, TB CARE II is supporting a number of core activities in universal access, the prevention of MDR-TB, infection control, TB/HIV, and health systems strengthening.

Key Activities

In Vietnam, TB CARE II is promoting the adoption of safe work practices to reduce TB transmission among health care workers and patients in Vietnam. This activity is known as FAST: Finding TB suspect cases Actively through cough surveillance, Separating them until diagnosis, and initiating effective Therapy early. The FAST strategy uses rapid TB diagnosis methods to detect and diagnose TB and multi-drug resistant TB cases for early and effective treatment. Rapidly diagnosing and effectively treating TB patients is the best way to reduce spread to other patients and healthcare workers, who are at high risk of infection due to routine direct patient care.

In South Africa, TB CARE II activities support the South Africa National Department of Health (NDOH) TB prevention and control efforts, working closely with national and provincial partners to close gap areas identified, and further develop sustainable systems that can carry forward long-term improvements in TB and drug-resistant (DR) TB diagnosis, care, and treatment services. The project is building on the activities and approaches utilized by the USAID TB Program South Africa, which from 2009 to 2015 supported the NDOH in improving early case detection, increasing access to diagnostics, ensuring treatment support for patients on TB treatment, and promoting quality, integrated services for TB/HIV patients.

In Bangladesh, TB CARE II supported the NTP’s goal of reducing morbidity, mortality, and transmission of TB. This effort focused on achieving universal access to directly observed therapy through community efforts, strengthening TB monitoring and evaluation, reducing the incidence of MDR-TB by supporting infection control measures and community-based treatment models, and strengthening management capacity at all levels.

In Malawi, TB CARE II worked at the national level to strengthen the laboratory network, strengthen the NTP centrally, and pilot novel diagnostics. At the district level, the project implemented a comprehensive set of interventions, including integration of antiretroviral therapy (ART) into the TB program, training community health workers in TB/HIV intervention, expanding the smear microscopy network, and upgrading infrastructure in selected facilities to accommodate increased HIV testing and counseling and ART for TB patients.